Additive manufacturing methods for producing a component, such as, for example, selective laser melting, selective laser sintering or laser deposition welding, are used in industry for what is known as rapid tooling, rapid prototyping and also for rapid manufacturing of repetition components. In particular, such methods may also be used for manufacturing turbine components, particularly components for aircraft engines, where such additive manufacturing methods are advantageous, for example, because of the material used. An example of this is found in DE 10 2010 050 531 A1.
In addition, lasers are also used in many other materials processing applications for melting or just heating materials. In all of these methods, the heat input can result in the generation of fumes; i.e., the generation of combustion gases, evaporation of material, and the like, which may prevent continued efficient coupling of laser light into the material to be processed. For this reason, it is already known to provide a laminar gas flow in the region of the laser processing field to allow the generated fumes to be carried away by the gas flow.